And...There Goes the Power Again

 Earlier this week things started to return to normal in our house after Sandy. We restocked the fridge, got things in order and returned to work full time on Monday. We even got Riker his first haircut!

I almost shed a tear when they cut those shaggy locks from his eyes. He's no longer a baby. (Sigh). But how adorable is he sitting all tiny in the big barber's chair? He cried toward the end, but stayed still the whole time and is quite the handsome little boy with his new look.

Returning to work in the city Monday felt a little strange. It was hard not to think about all the people still without power and homes in our towns, and hard not to notice the big National Guard tanks driving around Manhattan. But our office tried to resume business as usual, and we all pulled together to participate in a coat drive and a few fundraisers for hurricane victims. Everything was going along fine. And thennnn Tuesday happened.

Right after I left work to head to the bus station, a transformer and power wires started leaning over the NJ Turnpike, so they closed the roadway in both directions, leaving a bunch of us commuters stranded at Port Authority. Thank goodness my good friend Abby lives in the city! Rather than waiting around for hours to get home, I headed to her place for the night.

After stopping by H&M to buy clothes for work the next day (a good excuse to buy a new outfit!), Abby and I headed out for dinner with her roommate. It was freezing and we didn't feel like going far, so we walked two blocks to a cozy little window-front bistro called Benjamin's. I ordered a Goose Island winter ale and the yellowfin tuna wrap. Delish!

Not a bad evening for getting trapped. :)

After work last night I was able to get home, but not before the crazy Nor'Easter dubbed "Athena" hit. By the time I got back to Toms River my car was covered with a good 5 inches of heavy, wet snow. No biggie. Just cleared it off and went on my way. But when I pulled down my street, all at once the street lights all went off. And then all the houses went dark.

Yep, we are powerless again! Mother Nature sure has it in for us right now. Normally I'd be thrilled with an early snowstorm, but so many trees were already badly damaged from Sandy that the snow storm just put them over the edge. We have a lot of big trees on power lines again, and a few more transformers blew last night as well. I feel so bad for all the linemen who worked so hard to get our power back last week, just to have it go out again this week.

Our house was warm enough to stay the night, but by this morning we were freezing so we rolled out of there by 8 AM.

They're saying it could be next week before our town gets power back, so we decided to temporarily move back in with Matt's parents. For the time being we'll be living and working here.

I couldn't bear the thought of throwing out another fridge full of food, so we packed up the contents of our fridge and freezer to store at Matt's mom's. Actually her fridge was full, so it's currently sitting in the snow on the deck. ;-) We're now in the process of consuming as many fresh vegetables and seafood as we possibly can before they go bad on us. No worries, I could eat salad with salmon any day.

I'm sad to have to move out again for a few more days, but it's a small inconvenience compared to all those who lost so much more. We're trying to make an adventure out of it. Matt's sister and her husband are living here as well since they can't get back to their house in Seaside, so we're one big happy family!

Hopefully I'll be able to do some cooking here and share something other than wraps, salads and veggie pasta. ;-) And with that, it's football time!